1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for gait training for a walking impaired patient. More specifically the instant invention relates to a lightweight, foldable device that can partially support the weight of a patient while walking and can be adjusted wide enough to fit over treadmills or wheelchairs and can be adjusted narrow enough to fit through standard doorways.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Partial weight bearing gate trainers or unweighting systems are used by medical personnel during physical therapy to improve the mobility of the patient to regain strength and range of motion. These units are generally used over treadmills or on flat surfaces in a medical office. Most of these units use a system of ropes or webbing combined with a harness to lift the patient and lower the amount of weight the patient places upon their legs. The patient can then walk on a treadmill with their weight being partially relieved by the device allowing earlier physical therapy during rehabilitation. These units are most often used in large institutional settings where a dedicated space is available to operate and store the unit.
Current units are often large, heavy pieces of equipment designed for institutional use in large medical facilities. The devices are normally used by patients while walking on a treadmill since the weight and the associated rolling friction of the devices makes them difficult to use on a smooth floor. The units that are more mobile still require an assistant to help the unit roll since the weight of the unit plus the patient's weight make it difficult to roll unaided. The need to constantly guide and assist the patient slows the necessary regaining of the sense of balance for the patient.
Those prior art units are difficult to transport and require the complete disassembly of the equipment and transport by truck or van. Moving a unit often requires two or three people to disassemble and carry the parts to the truck and reassemble them at the next facility. Many units are necessarily wide to insure fitting over a treadmill or wheelchair but are often too wide to fit through most standard doorways.
Today many rehabilitation facilities are much smaller in size and have the need of a compact unit that can be easily stored and transported between facilities or rooms. Patients are given instructions to do exercises away from the rehabilitation facility, creating the need for a unit that is lightweight, foldable and easy to transport to and from the facility in the back of a minivan or car by one person.
What is needed is a lightweight, easily portable device that can be made wide enough to fit over wheel chairs or treadmills yet can made narrow enough to roll through a standard doorway. The unit must be light enough that it can easily roll on smooth floors without momentum effects overpowering the patient. It must be compact when stored yet stable and safe when fully assembled. It should be easy to assemble and disassemble by one person and be light enough to be carried by hand. It also needs to fail-safe when raising or lowering the patient to insure that it is impossible to drop a patient during use of the equipment.